Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-09-17

VIC SeueIdI WeIi2ISi anu sCSuiS lu0 OiSo'
ings Of liberty to ourselves and our pos
terity," but few take the trouble to Sc
riously consider the causes which led to
this meeting or speculate upon
what would have been the fate
of this country had those dele
gates failed to agree on form
of government. The Declaration OF indie
pendence had startled the world, and
the war OF the rebellion had been fought
and won. The rulers sent over to govern
this country vita the bsYonet and sword
lad been forced to fee. Individual lib
erty was gained, state sovereignty and
| Independence won, while, for s national
government, anarchy pure end simple
reigned, restrained, not always success
fully, by the COED sense and patriotism
of the people. Various schemes of
federation had been proposed, tried
and abandoned. Ststes whose indi-
vidual citizens had purchased lib
erty at so great g price were
unwilling to surrender any portion
of that liberty or concede any OF
the power gained, to a central govern
ment. One or two states NIGH, now and
then, agree to act together for defense
against the Indians, but were CONNER
cially enemies st the same time. Each
state conducted itself IS though 1t was
an independent nation and obeYed the
C0niederated Congress only when the
mandates of that body entirely suited IT.
There was power and wealth and liberty,
but no machinery to give them concen-
trated direction, or to protect or perpet-
uate these blessings. a central govern
ment vas needed IN order that the
newborn nation might take its place
among the nations Of the earth. England
was chasing cur commerce from the seas,
and the hat hsdto be passed around in the
churches whenever the liberty OF one Of
our citizens had to be purchased from q
third-rate power. A stronger govern
ment was demanded, but how secure ii?
The foolish belief in "the divine right Of
kings" had been dissipated, and people
went to the other extreme Of wanting no
I government at all, save one clumslly pat
termed after the community system OF the
agricultural portions of inland Russia.
In frenzy Of delight and eXultetiOn over
the triumph achieved in throwing Off q
foreign yoke, future government was IN
thought Of; or, where it was considered,
it was merely state sovereignty run mad.
State taxed end fairfield the product OF
state; seIdshness and the lust for COM
mercial supremacy ian riot until the fear
Of foreign oppression gave way TO the
fear of internal chaos. Nothing could be
done to sGreng then the central govern
ment without beginning in the new. The
vote of one state WAS sufficient to defeat
the most salutsry provision under the
old confederation system. What Was
done had to be undole and what YVES
more, people had to be educated by the
voices and pens of those illustrtous
statesmen whose names, many of them at
least, are appended to the constitution,
to the necessity and expediercy of con-
structing new form OF government.
When Washington was elected chair
man the outlook WAS indeed IN
promising. OF the thirteen states
only eleven had sent delegates and
these were tsrdy about arriving. The
anxious intrcpidity of those pioneers who
were trsversing the heretofore untrodden
forests of legislation may well be i'm
agined. They had not only to create G
form Of government, but one wholly dit
ferent from eli others. They were not to
be aided by the mutations of time, the
growth of centuries, or the slowly sCcu-
mulatirg wisdom of ages their work had
to be new, elaborate and final, and il
must be commenced and finished at one
session. How well they succeeded WE
all know. From De Tocqueyille, most
crafty and cunning of politicians, was
extorted q need Of praise quite IN
usual to his lips; Lord Broug-
ham, philosopher and statesman, IN
dorsed it with cautious warmth anc
in our own day Gladstone and Johr
Bright have been more generous in theil
praises. The greatest tribute, no wever
that can be paid TO the labors Of thai
convention is the faith and confidence
American citizens repose in it's perma-
hence The history of the world shows
no experiment of equal magnitude tc
have been SO successful. Whatever may
be its defects or whatever faults may be
conjured up by the aesthetic philosophy
Of the disconnected, no better system o.
government has ever been devised; nc
system OF government has disenthrallet
so many millions or done so much for the
elev alton of common humanity. 1t ha:
given rourishment to the development o.
sturdy individuallsm unknown and IN
dreamed Of before the nineteenth cen
fury. Liberty, paling in the gloomy
shadows OF monarchies or burning in tne
arid deserts of despotisms, sprung spon
taneously and grew luxurisntlY in this
Isnd. Those who complain CT tie Ameri